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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Ch ap . _ . . _**?l>)py r i ght No..„„___. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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DEVOTIONAL BOOKS* David cVcook. 

These are printed in large type, on laid paper, bound in Vellum, 
with ornamental designs. 

THE LOVE SERIES. 

Size, 4x5*4. Four books to help us see God's love and His 
desire for our love. 

The Gospel of Love. Love-Bound. 

With Jesus. The Must op Love. 

THE BEST SERIES. 

Square shape, size 5x5. Four restful books. God wants your 
life to be restful. 

Lost Crowns. Rest: or, The Song op Love. 

All Things New. The Secret op Happy Home Life. 



THE KINGDOM SERIES. 

Size, 2%s.b%. Jesus in four helpful aspects — as Conqueror, 
King-, Shepherd and Lord. 

The Conquest of Love. The Good Shepherd. 

The Kingdom of Love. Love's Servants. 



THE CHRISTIAN" LIFE SERIES. 

Size, 5x5. Four books to help one in understanding- and 
living a true Christian life. 

The World of Grace. 
Holiness, and Some Mistakes About It. 
Prayer, and Some Mistakes About It. 
His Name; or, Saved by a Name. 
Any or all of the above sent by mail, prepaid, to any address, 
on receipt of price, 10 cents per copy. 

DAVID C. COOK PUBLISHING COMPANY, CHICAGO. 



ALL THINGS NEW. 



HU Ubings Bew; 

OR, «„ 

THROUGH DYING WE LIVE. 
By David C. Cook. 



CHICAGO: 
David C. Cook Publishing Company, 

36 WASHINGTON STREET. 



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Copyright, 1898, by David 0. Cook. 







ECtivtO. 



EH GMnas mew; 

OR, THROUGH DYING WE LIVE. 



What would you think of one who should build 
a beautiful house and then destroy it, or paint 
a lovely picture and then tear it to pieces? Have 
you never thought that this is the way God is 
doing? He makes, to destroy. Nothing seems to 
long remain the same. He clothes the trees with 
leaves, but within a few months strips them off. 
He makes the tiny bud and develops it into the 
beautiful flower, but the flower is no sooner in 
bloom than it begins to wither and fade. It 
seems to be so with everything in nature. It 



8 All Things New. 

starts out, grows in beauty, and then is destroyed. 
Why should such loveliness be wasted? 

And God deals in much the same way with us. 
He gives us joy after joy, but each one soon passes 
away, never to return. The bright, sunny day is 
soon gone, or changed to a cloudy one. The 
glorious sunset fades into the darkness and gloom 
of night. You enjoy yourself at the concert or in 
some other way, but the hour soon passes. Each 
meeting with friends is followed by a parting. 
You draw many a sigh as your joys or the joys of 
others depart, and bitter tears may sometimes flow 
because the day that is just past will never 
return, and the joys you have had cannot again be 
yours. 

You study hard at school to acquire an educa- 



All Things New. g 

tion. Afterwards you find employment and all 
looks bright for a time. But sickness comes, or 
perhaps a labor panic, you lose your situation, and 
then you may even go hungry. You try to save 
money to build yourself a home and furnish it. 
Eeverses overtake you, and your money or your 
home is gone. Even though you succeed for a 
while, sooner or later you are snatched from that 
which you enjoy, or your joys are taken from you. 
You gather friends about you; loved ones nestle 
by your side. But one and another are taken 
away from you — parents and little ones, brothers 
and sisters, are parted; none are safe. You may 
be almost broken-hearted because of your losses, 
and you are bowed down with the weight of sor- 
row. 



io All Things New. 

Then, too, you yourself change. Free and joy- 
ous childhood gives place to manhood and old age. 
At last you are gone. What does it all mean? 

It is God's way — yes, Love's way. But why 
and how? Through doing so He seeks to unfold 
your inner life. Your body and mind should grow 
and develop; but within is another life, far more 
important to you, which He is seeking to bring to 
perfection. Ultimately your material body is to 
be destroyed for the sake of this life. 

What is there to do about it? Just to live, live 
— live aright. As you do this, the sorrow and 
pain are transformed and glorified. You notice 
that we can never have the new thing without 
parting with the old. The plant can have no fruit 
until it parts with the flower. At school you put 



All Things New. n 

away the chart and the multiplication table, 
to take up the reader and the arithmetic., 
then you hurried on to get through with all your 
readers and arithmetics. You do not mourn over 
these losses, and there is no need to mourn over 
the losses we have to bear as God develops our 
soul-life. It is this that I want you to see. 

There is a glad and joyous promise in the next 
to the last chapter of Kevelation, which I wish 
you would mark in your Bible. It is this: " Be- 
hold, I make all things new." The chapter opens 
with the words: " And I saw a new heaven and a 
new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth 
were passed away." The second verse speaks of 
the holy city, the Xew Jerusalem, and most of the 
chapter is taken up with telling about this so- 



12 All Things New. 

called city (the city where we see without sunlight 
or candle. 

I wish you could " behold " — could really see 
how it is God's plan, out of the seeming destruc- 
tion of each enjoyment, to build for you this im- 
perishable city of eternal joy. From these 
precious stones He would build a glittering wall 
of glory, and I wish you could see this wall as 
course after course is being laid in your life. I 
wish it might rise in beauty and grandeur. If you 
cannot understand this, try to believe Jesus' 
words: " Behold, I make all things new." As in 
loving confidence you believe, you will begin to see. 

We sometimes talk of God's fitting us for 
heaven. We are apt to misunderstand what this 
means. I wish I could help you to understand 



All Things New. ij 

it somewhat better. In another place in Kevela- 
tion, we read of a time when God's angel shall 
stand upon the earth and proclaim that " Time 
shall be no more." I think in this is contained 
a prophecy wonderful and beautiful. With each 
tick of the clock time is passing, but often you do 
not notice the ticking because you are so absorbed 
in something that you forget the passage of time. 
It is changes in circumstances that mark its pass- 
age. You mark it as, forgetful of the new, your 
mind is taken up with things that are passing. 
As you cling to things that are passing, you mark 
or notice their passing. But when you allow God 
each moment to make all things new, then to you 
there is no such word as time. 

God would give you a timeless life. Through 



14 All Things New. 

the changes of life He would make your life 
changeless. I wish that above you to-day might 
stand God's blessed angel of change and exultantly 
cry of your heart that from now on, " Time shall 
be no more." He can and will when you have 
entered the timeless life. 

You wonder at the mystery of immortality, 
when all things about you seem changing and 
dying. Try to see in this the proof of immortal- 
ity. Material things must change, die and other- 
wise pass from your sight, that what is real of 
them may remain with you. As they pass before 
your vision, change and vanish, you may become 
more or less, as you will. When you grieve 
because of what is passing, you mar God's plan for 
you. 



All Things New. 15 

You remember how the Israelites in the desert 
were fed by God with manna. It fell every day, 
and they were directed to gather a supply daily. 
But some tried to keep manna from the day 
before. They found that it became wormy. Yes- 
terday's manna was good only for yesterday, 
and to-day's manna for to-day. In the same 
way, God sends you new joys each day. Let 
the joys of to-day be used to-day. As you 
do this rightly, you will be more because of 
both those of yesterday and those of to-day. 
But if you mix the spoiled food from yester- 
day with the fresh food of to-day, you will 
spoil both. 

Loved ones should ever be loved ones of to-day, 
not yesterday. Blessings of yesterday will bless 



16 All Things New. 

you only when they have entered your life as some- 
thing living, which cannot be taken away. 

For you new flowers are ever springing. Daily 
new joys are being sent to you. Again the sun 
rises in brightness and beauty. New days take 
the place of old ones. New beauties pass before 
you, but you fail to see them while you cling to 
their material side. If instead you learn to live 
rightly in the present, each new day's joys will be 
more because of the past. 

Each new flower should be more beautiful 
because of the flowers of the past that you have 
learned to love; not for what was material in them, 
but for the soul of beauty in each. You should 
see more beauty in every sunset because of each 
previous one you have looked upon. Loved ones 



All Things New. ij 

passed from your mortal sight should now have 
entered your spiritual sight. Thus your spiritual 
life may grow. Loved ones gone from you should 
be more to you to-day because of each new love. 
And each new love should be more as through it 
you have learned to love in a higher and better 
way. 

You may love all whom you can bless with your 
love. Many think that when a loved one is dead 
they are untrue if they love others. It is true 
that you may love others so as to forget the 
departed friends, but instead you should so love 
that those who are gone become more to you. 

The bee sips honey from each flower as it 
blooms. As new flowers open, it takes from these. 
It increases its store as the new flowers keep com- 



18 All Things New. 

ing. Each blossom has its own peculiar sweet- 
ness. If the bee had to gather always from one 
flower, it would tire. Each joy that comes to you 
is new and different, and is a part of an eternity 
of joy that awaits you, if you will make it yours. 
There are joys which you do not taste as they pass, 
for numberless ones are presented to you. Many 
you do not recognize as joys. Some hearts have 
become so large that they gather much; they see 
true joys where others cannot. Their lives are 
unfolding rapidly, as God would have yours un- 
fold. There are ever joys enough for the largest 
gatherers. 

We see how it is God's plan in our physical and 
intellectual life that we should develop step by 
step. It is through many lessons at school and 



All Things New. ig 

at home that one advances. When a lesson is 
learned, a new one is given. To keep on studying 
the old ones, would be a waste of time. 

There is a great difference in the circumstances 
of different persons, and so in God's plans of teach- 
ing them. Still, each may say, " His banner over 
me is love," for the future for which God would 
fit each is to be different from that of others. 

I know of a boy who has unusual talent for 
music; friends say he ought to make a fine 
musician if educated aright. After he hears a 
piece played, he can play it quite nicely without 
the notes. His parents have begun sending him 
to a wise and accomplished teacher. She seems 
to have taken a great interest in the lad, but 
treats him in a way some would think strange. He 



20 All Things New. 

is given sheet music to play, one piece at a time, 
but just as the piece is becoming enjoyable to him 
she takes it away and replaces it with a new one. 
She says it is the only way to get him to watch his 
playing and so keep growing in the knowledge of 
music, which alone can give him constantly in- 
creasing enjoyment. 

Many see God's goodness in a part of what 
comes to them, but few see it in everything. Yet 
all is intended for good. I was once told that 
God gave joys, and then took them away so as to 
wean us from them. In Colossians we are bidden 
to " set our affections on things above." I think 
this means that we should find that which is spir- 
itual in our joys. I do not believe God takes 
away our joys to wean us from them, but to 



All Things New. 21 

enable us to enjoy them continually. When the 
taking away of joys weans you from them, their 
usefulness is spoiled. If through the teacher's 
changing his lesson the pupil becomes discour- 
aged, harm is done instead of good. 

God's plans for you will be more or less helpful 
as you are in accord with them. They may prove 
harmful. Some have become cast down and hope- 
less because of what has come into their lives and 
been taken away, while others have been helped 
and uplifted by the same. God would continually 
uplift each one. The difference in results is be- 
cause one does not give Him loving confidence, 
while another does. 

Some are ever looking at what God seems to be 
giving others and refusing themselves. We can 



22 All Things New. 

grow in trust as we come to see His loving hand in 
everything and determine to find highest joys in 
each day's circumstances. 

Through losses God would cause losses to cease. 
Through separation He would sweep away all that 
separates. Having something in which you are 
interested taken away from you, ought to enable 
you to keep it. It is thus the school-boy acquires 
knowledge. He reads, closes his book, then tries 
to recall what he has read. You learn to acquire 
knowledge rapidly through experience in the pro- 
cess of study — looking at your book, then away, 
and striving to reproduce in your mind. The 
artist, through looking at his model and then 
away, learns to reproduce on canvas. 

See how loving God is in letting us have some 



All Things New. 23 

things for a little while, and then taking them 
away while we were feeling most attached to 
them, instead of waiting until we had lost interest. 
It is when yon have become interested in a lesson 
that your book may be closed and the lesson 
recalled so as to ever remain in the memory. 

To have material things always with you, would 
be to lose the good of them forever. If the same 
material things were always to remain, spiritual 
things could never be. You are conscious of 
material things only through the spiritual within 
you. Indeed, your consciousness is your life. As 
material things continue, you tire of them and so 
you lose them. To lose all interest in things 
would be to lose your consciousness — lose your 
life. 



24 All Things New. 

There is that which is material in everything 
you see, feel and look upon. But there is some- 
thing beyond. What does the artist mean by 
putting life into the picture or expression into the 
face? What does the musician mean by putting 
soul into music? What is the difference between 
the hand-organ and the piano? 

Paul tells us how we begin with a natural (or 
material) body, which is afterwards changed or 
raised to a spiritual one. He speaks of how we 
are first earthy, then heavenly (or like God and 
other heavenly beings). It is through the chang- 
ing circumstances of this life that God would de- 
velop the heavenly life. 

Why is it that as old age comes the strength 
fails, the eyes grow dim, the hearing becomes 



All Things New. 25 

dulled, and the memory leaves us? I think it is 
all a part of God's plan of infinite love. Each 
one may rejoice to see in this the unfolding of the 
new life. It is right that your eyes should be 
bright and clear, but at best they do not give you 
a perfect vision. They see but a little distance. 
They look but one way at a time. Through them 
you seek to look on those you love, but often they 
are beyond the reach of these eyes. Distance and 
darkness are barriers to them, but within us are 
other eyes which may pierce the darkest gloom. 
You may dimly discern what you wish to see, 
shining through the face, but you long to really 
look upon that which you love. And as the out- 
ward eye is dimmed, much more perfectly should 
the inner eyes open. Many blind people have 



26 All Things New. 

found and made use of this new vision as few with 
natural eyes do. God would have each learn to 
use this sight — and the sooner, the better. 

To the ear may come words of tenderness and 
love, ripples of song, and tones of joy and glad- 
ness, such as arouse and thrill the soul. But dis- 
tance separates. No sound can reach the ear from 
far-away friends. Then often that which you 
hear is not what you long for from the hearts of 
others. Besides, through the natural ear no lov- 
ing words can come from Him who is Love. No 
music of heaven ever sounds upon it. The joys of 
that world must reach the soul in another way. It is 
true that through the hearing we sometimes seem 
to catch the echo of these. And as you listen to 
them, your inner ear may open the wider. Some 



All Things New. 2j 

have learned to use this ear until they feel at 
home with God/ and, through Him, with the 
loved ones who have passed from the visible 
world. 

Through the voice how much of love we may 
convey to others in word and tone! And how 
much of sympathy and comfort! You should 
rejoice that you have this means of reaching 
others' hearts. But behind the voice is the heart 
which you seek to give with the words. We speak 
of putting heart into our words; but words convey 
quite poorly what the heart feels. By words you 
try to show that you — your heart — seek to 
touch another's heart, or that your heart is open 
to that of another. But you put your heart beside 
that of another through a spirit-union, and to this 



28 All Things New. 

words are only helps. Through rightly doing 
this, you may learn a higher and better way — a 
way independent of words. 

It is true that as you grow strong in body you 
may be more to others and to yourself. In sick- 
ness and weakness of body we are apt to feel small 
and mean. Yet it is not for strength of body 
that you really care, but for strength of heart and 
mind. This a strong body may nourish and pro- 
tect. As your body is strong, it may the better 
care for itself and thus for you; and as the heart 
and mind grow, they may the better care for the 
body. But I wish you might understand that 
these grow as they come to live independent of 
the body; finally they are to live thus entirely. 
While many are much depressed by each ache and 



All Things New. 2Q 

pain, others have become exalted through bodily 
suffering. 

A few weeks ago I was asked to go and see a 
sick girl. Her father told me that for three years 
she had not known freedom from pain. When I 
saw her, the disease had become so bad that she 
could not move any part of her body or turn upon 
the bed. Her father had employed many phy- 
sicians without avail. He had tried faith-healing 
also. One look into her face told me that she had 
entered into a life above the physical. A heav- 
enly love, joy and peace seemed written upon her 
countenance. At first I thought it might be the 
way the light shone upon her, or something un- 
usual in the color or the features. I had expected 
to find some one in great trouble, and perhaps to 



jo All Things New. 

offer consolation. I asked her several questions 
about herself, which she answered hesitatingly, 
because of pain. I saw from her answers that her 
face had not deceived me. I had come to help 
her — but how much more could she help me! 
I afterward said to her father when we were alone, 
"Do you realize that you have an angel with 
you?" He smiled and answered something that 
made me see he knew it full well. 

Jesus came and went away, not to lessen men's 
love for Him, but to increase it; not to be farther 
away, but nearer. Our loved ones are taken away, 
that they may be more to us and more with us. 
If we knew the truth we would seldom murmur 
because of anything taken from us. Loved ones 
are with you at first in an imperfect way; God 



All Things New. ji 

wants them to be with you ever in the perfect 
way. God wants to be with you Himself in this 
way. 

We wish to keep the fading flower, not for the 
bit of earthly matter of which it is composed, but 
for the beautiful form which the life within the 
flower has produced. We feel a common life with 
the flower and with everything beautiful. Through 
the flower we have become conscious of unknown 
life and loveliness. It is not the flower we love, 
but the unseen life within it. 

We want to keep with us persons whom we 
have learned to love. But that which we love is 
not material. Sometimes, through the medium 
of imperfect words and looks, we have managed to 
convey our love to another and have drawn an- 



32 All Things New. 

other to love us. But the words and the look 
were not the love, and the absence of these does 
not destroy the love. You can love another no 
matter how widely separated you may be. How 
little do we discern this truth and what it fore- 
shadows! There is an unusual stillness in your 
home when someone is away, but you are 
affected quite differently if it is someone you 
love; then there is a feeling of loss — it seems as 
though a part of you were somewhere else. You 
may have a feeling of relief if it is one for whom 
you do not care. Why do we experience these 
feelings when those we love are gone? Is it not 
because we are trying to be with them? It is 
heart reaching out after heart. It is hunger for 
heart-union. 



All Things New. jj 

Did you ever think that while those we love are 
with us we seem to forget them, but when they 
leave us our hearts go after them? Perhaps we 
mourn and weep because we feel we cannot be 
with them. But I am sure that compensation will 
follow. If you have a loved one near you, you do 
not yearn for him; it is only when the body is 
away that the heart goes out in its fullness toward 
the spirit you love. I think one reason why we 
fail to love very much those who are with us is 
because we cannot fully reach that which we love. 
When separated, we reach out after the loved one 
in a new way. This, I think, is the " earnest," 
or heart-union of which I have been speaking. 

God's thoughts for you are far higher than your 
thoughts for yourself. You are more to Him 



34 All Things New. 

than your surroundings. He cares more for you 
than for your body. " The life is more than the 
meat." Let your soul-life grow. 

Perhaps in the past you have failed to gather 
true joys, so you have not been lifted up into a 
life of larger joys. As this is so you may have 
grown worn and thin. Your heart may have be- 
come famished. Indeed, there may have fallen 
over you a stupor such as comes before death to 
those who are starving for bread. But it is not 
yet too late. There are losses which cannot be 
repaired, but your heart may hear the words of 
Jesus: " Behold, I make all things new." At 
first you may not be able to take much food, but 
you will grow in strength as you accept comfort 
from these words and begin the life of love. Only 



All Things New, 35 

believe Him and begin to love and trust Him in 
this way. 

Sincerely yours, 



J$^Y^^f 



THE I. A. H. CIRCLE. 

Do you want a charmed life? Then you should join the I. A. H. 
Circle. Over one hundred thousand joined the first year. 

It is not a society. It has no constitution, by-laws or pledges. 
To cover the cost of letters and hooks such as are sent free to 
each member, also for postage and other expenses, we charge 

Twenty-Five Cents Membership Fee 

for joining the Circle. This is all it costs. There are no dues to 

pay after you join. Each member is given a number. When once 

you have joined, you are always a member unless you withdraw. 

Privileges of Members. 

One of the chief features of the Circle is its silver ring, because 
wearing it as directed, when once the Charmed Life is under- 
stood, so greatly helps one to enter it and keep there. The ring 
is sent free and postpaid. But Circle members have much 
besides to help them. 

A Personal Friend to Write to.— Each one is entitled to 
the privilege of correspondence with Mr. Cook, the founder of 
the Circle. Members may write to him whenever in perplexity 
or trouble. Each letter so received is confidential. Each one is 
answered personally. No charge is made for any answer. The 
only expense to the one writing is a two-cent stamp to pay 
postage on reply. 

Daily Help from the Charmed Life Book. — This con- 
tains a letter written by Mr. Cook for each day of the month. 
The Letters are intended as helps for each day for a year. At the 
end of the first year you can receive a new book containing a 
new set of letters by sending five cents for the same, and again 
at the end of the second year. 

Access to a Library of Helpful Letters.— These letters, 
written by Mr. Cook, are upon subjects in which Circle members 
are most interested. They have been written in answer to 
questions from Circle members. Each Letter is printed in the 
shape of a little book. These letters, which you may keep, cost 
only a penny each. To this library are constantly being added 
new letters. Full particulars sent free. Address, 

DAVID C. COOK, I. A. H. CIRCLE, 

36 Washington Street, Chicago. 



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